INTRO: We have been considering 2 Chronicles 7:13-14. This is the last message. Let me read those verses once more:
13 "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,
14 "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
These verses are directed at God's people, Israel. For the last 2,000 years the Church has been God's primary work on earth and I think we can rightly say that though this passage is meant for Israel, application may be made to us from these verses. The laws of bringing new life to believers apply today as they did during the time of the OT.
Verse 14 gives us the reason for verse 13. God's people have fallen into error. And when we refuse to hear God when He warns eventually, He lets those things come upon us that we cannot handle. We have just witnessed a huge earthquake in Turkey. Oh, how helpless we stand by in such times. So, it was for Israel when God shut off the rain, or when grasshoppers overtook the land, or when pestilences came. And sometimes we as believers may personally experience such a time. When we, those who name the name of Christ, slip off the path in some way, God may well let us go through things we are helpless to change until He gets our attention. |
